The present invention relates to a system for providing traffic information, and more particularly a system for providing traffic information to a plurality of mobile users connected to a network.
Commuters have a need for information relating to the congestion and traffic which they may encounter on a commute over a road, a highway, or a freeway. Unfortunately, the prior art methods of providing traffic information to commuters do not allow commuters to evaluate the extent to which there is congestion on a highway on which the commuter may wish to travel.
One known method of providing traffic information consists of radio reports. A radio station may broadcast traffic reports, such as from a helicopter that monitors traffic conditions over portions of a freeway. Unfortunately, these reports are usually intermittent in nature. Accordingly, to hear the report, the commuter must be listening to the radio station at the time the report is being broadcast on the radio. Further, the extent of the information provided is severely limited to broad generalizations. For example, the information provided during the broadcast may be limited to the area being currently viewed by the reporter, or the information may be based on a previous view at a prior time of another portion of the freeway. Some broadcasts may include multiple observers of different portions of the freeway, yet these systems also provide incomplete information relating to overall traffic patterns. In addition, the information provided is vague, subjective, and usually limited to broad generalities relating to traffic flow.
Another known traffic information system is provided by television broadcasts. In these systems, television stations may mount video cameras pointed at certain portions of a freeway, or may broadcast video images from a helicopter. The television station may periodically broadcast traffic reports and include in the traffic report a view of different portions of the freeway from the video cameras. Again, this system provides little useful information to a commuter. The commuter must be watching the broadcast at the time the information is being transmitted. However, by the time the commuter actually gets into his vehicle and enters a potentially congested area, the traffic may have changed. Further, the information provided is limited to those areas where the traffic is being monitored and may consist of stale information. Often the video image is limited to a small portion of the road, and shows traffic flowing in a single direction.
Yet another method to provide traffic information is to provide a website that is accessible using the Internet that contains traffic information. While these types of systems have the advantage of providing more up to date information, these systems typically provide a map for a large area. Thus, for a person commuting in a car, the system displays traffic information for many areas not of interest to the commuter. In addition, these types of systems require manipulation by the commuter to find the relevant traffic information. For example, while the map may allow the commuter to zoom in on a particular area, the user must provide inputs to the system to instruct the system to zoom in on a particular area. However, a commuter who is actively driving cannot operate a computer and drive at the same time. In addition, these systems may rely on manual entry of data received from subjective traffic reports and/or traffic sensors. Thus this method may additionally suffer from added cost due to manual labor, incorrect entry of data, and slow response to quickly changing traffic conditions.
Fan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,577, disclose a system for processing position and travel related information through a data processing station on a data network. In particular, Fan et al. teach the use of a GPS receiver to obtain a measured position fix of a mobile unit. The measured position fix is reported to the data processing station which associates the reported position with a map of the area. Typically, the measured position of the mobile unit is marked and identified by a marker on the map. The area map is then stored in the data processing station and made available for access by authorized monitor units or mobile units. An authorized monitor unit may request a specific area map. This permits shipping companies to monitor the location of their fleet and permits the mobile units to identify their current location in relation to a map, which is particularly suited for the application of navigation to a particular destination. In addition, Fan et al. teach that the measured position data transmitted from the mobile units may be used to calculate the speeds at which the vehicles travel. The collective speed data from the mobile units is then available for use by the monitor units, such as those at the shipping company, to route the vehicles away from traffic congestions and diversions. In this manner, the dispatcher at the shipping company, to which Fan et al. teaches the data is available to, may use the collective speed data to decide which vehicles to contact in order to reroute them.
Westerlage et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,097,377 and 5,987,377, disclose a system for determining an expected time of arrival of a vehicle equipped with a mobile unit.
Zijderhand, U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,117, discloses a method of collecting traffic information to determine an origin-destination matrice without infringing upon the privacy of the users.
Mandhyan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,645, is related to monitoring movement of traffic along predetermined routes, where individual moving elements can move with a high degree of discretion as to speed except when congestion, accident or the like limit speeds. Mandhyan et al. uses the deployment of calibrant vehicles for collecting and reporting information which describes vehicle speeds actually being experienced along the routes of interest where the data are processed statistically as a function of the time of day. The output provides baseline data against which observations at a particular time, category, weather, event, and location can be compared, to identify the existence of abnormal conditions, and to quantify the abnormality. To determine abnormal conditions, Mandhyan et al. teach the use of probe vehicles. In particular, Mandhyan et al. is applicable to monitoring the flow of motor vehicles along roads which are subject to delays of sufficient frequency and severity that correction action or dissemination of information announcing a delay are economically desirable. Unfortunately, the use of probe vehicles may be expensive and the relevancy of the data is limited to the availability of the probe vehicles.
Lappenbusch et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,298, disclose a traffic information system having servers that makes traffic data, images, and video clips available to a user interface on client devices. Lappenbusch et al. envision that the client devices are personal or desktop computers, network computers, set-top boxes, or intelligent televisions. The user interface includes a road map showing a plurality of road segments that a user can interactively select. Vehicular speed information is provided to the system from traffic sensors monitoring the traffic. In addition, the user interface has a road image area that changes as the user selects different road segments to show recent images of a currently selected road segment. Unfortunately, the system taught by Lappenbusch et al. is complicated to operate and requires significant user interaction to provide relevant data, which is suitable for such xe2x80x9cstationaryxe2x80x9d traditional computing devices.
Smith, Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,827, disclose a system to alleviate the need for sophisticated route guidance systems, where the commuter has a positioning system as well as a map database in a car. A central facility receives and stores current traffic information for preselected commuter routes from various current traffic information sources, such as local police authorities, toll-way authorities, spotters, or sensors deployed on the road ways to detect traffic flow. To achieve the elimination of sophisticated route guidance systems a portable device receives a travel time only for preselected commuter routes from the central facility. In this manner, Smith, Jr. et al. teach that each user receives only the traffic information that is relevant to the user""s preselected commuter routes. If desired, the preselected commuter routes may be presented as a set of route segments, where each of the segments is coded to indicate commute time. In response, the user may choose an alternative route known by him that is different from any preselected commuter routes. Smith, Jr. et al. further suggest that a GPS enabled portable unit for transmitting a present position of the portable device to the central facility such that the central facility uses each present position to calculate at least a portion of the current travel information. By matching multiple positions of the portable device with known positions on the preselected route and measuring the time between two consecutive matched positions the central facility can obtain up-to-the minute traffic information to be used in broadcasting future travel times to other users of preselected commuter routes. Unfortunately, the system taught by Smith, Jr. et al. requires the user to define a set of preselected commuter routes for each route to be traveled, which may be difficult if the user is unfamiliar with the area. In addition, Smith, Jr. et al. teach that the user should select alternative routes that are known to the user, presumably if the commute time of the preselected commuter routes are too long, which is difficult if the user is not already familiar with the area.
Pietzsch et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,039, disclose a system for dynamic monitoring of the total traffic in a stretch of road equipped with monitoring and information-provision system, as well as warnings to drivers, and hence the possibility of regulating the traffic. The system does not require that the vehicles be equipped with appropriate sensors and transmitting equipment.
Akutsu et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,374, disclose a vehicle traveling guidance system that includes data providing devices laid on a road and a vehicle. The vehicle includes a data transmitter for sending a data providing device traveling data of the vehicle when the vehicle passes over the vicinity of the data providing device and a data receiver for receiving data sent from the data providing device. The traveling data may include vehicle pass time or vehicle pass time and speed. The data providing devices laid on the road include a receiver for receiving the traveling data from the vehicle and a transmitter for sending other passing vehicles the traveling data. A control center communicating through the data providing devices laid on the road can use the received traffic data from the vehicles to predict the occurrence of traffic congestion based on the pass time and speed of a vehicle. It is assumed that at a certain point, vehicles were traveling smoothly at a certain time and the speed of each vehicle has decreased drastically at the next time. In this case it is expected that traffic congestion will occur in the vicinity of that point. Therefore, smooth travel can be achieved by, for example, communicating to each vehicle data etc. indicating bypasses in order not to worsen traffic congestion. Therefore, a vehicle operator can gain knowledge of the traveling state of a vehicle which has already passed over that point and adjust travel considering traffic flow.
While all of the above systems provide some degree of traffic information for a commuter, nevertheless the above systems do not provide an efficient method of collecting and presenting objective traffic information to a commuter. What is desired, therefore, is a system for providing traffic information which allows a commuter to obtain information at any time desired by the commuter, that provides information relating to a plurality of points along a road, that provides information relating to different traffic levels, that provides information that is particularly relevant to the commuter, and that provides the information in an easily understood format that may be easily utilized by a commuter while driving.
The present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art by providing a system for providing traffic information to a plurality of users connected to a network. In a first aspect the present invention provides a system comprised of a plurality of traffic monitors, each comprising at least a traffic detector and a transmitter, the traffic detector generating a signal in response to vehicular traffic and the transmitter transmitting the signal. The system also includes a receiver that receives the signals from the traffic monitors. A computer system is connected to the receiver and is also connected to the network. The computer system, in response to a request signal received from one of the users, transmits in response thereto information representative of the signals transmitted by the traffic monitors.
In a second separate aspect of the invention, a system provides traffic information to a plurality of users connected to a network. Traffic is detected at each of a plurality of locations along a road and a signal is generated at each of the locations representative of the traffic at each of the locations. Each of the signals is transmitted from each of the plurality of locations to a receiver. These signals are sent from the receiver to a computer system. The computer system receives a request from one of the users for traffic information. In response to the request, the computer system transmits information representative of the traffic at each of the plurality of locations to the user.
In a third separate aspect of the invention, a system provides traffic information to a plurality of users connected to a network. The system comprises a plurality of mobile user stations, each mobile user station being associated with the display, a global positioning system receiver and a communicating device to allow each of the mobile user stations to send and receive signals. A computer system is interconnected with another communicating device in the network. The computer system is capable of sending and receiving signals to the mobile user stations using the other communicating device in the network. The computer system maintains a map database and a traffic information database. The traffic information database contains information representative of traffic data at a plurality of locations. At least one of the mobile user stations provides a request to the computer system for information together with the respective geographic location of the mobile user station. In response to the request, the computer system provides to the mobile user station information representative of selected portions of the map database and selected portions of the traffic information database based on the respective geographic location of the requesting mobile user station. The mobile user station then displays graphically on the display information representative of selected portions of the map database and selected portions of the traffic information database.
The traffic information database may be derived from information obtained from stationary traffic monitors, mobile user stations, or a combination thereof. The mobile user station allows traffic information to be displayed in a variety of manners. The display can also show graphically the location of the car on the display. The user may select among different modes for displaying traffic information on the display.
The various aspects of the present invention have one or more of the following advantages. The present invention allows a commuter to obtain traffic information at any time, without waiting for a report to be broadcast. The present invention also allows detailed information relating to traffic conditions based on measurements of the traffic, such as the average vehicular speed or traffic density, to be supplied for a plurality of locations along a road. The invention also allows the convenient display of information in a readily understood form to the user, such as a graphical display. The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.